Happy Square Root Day!

Happy Square Root Day folks! Being somewhat of an obscure person, I like to celebrate the totally obscure and slightly mundane things in life, so in that fashion I am celebrating Square Root Day today. I have taken off work and everything (actually I took off work for a rainy field trip to the zoo, but let's pretend) so at exactly 3:39PM (that's west coast time) I will be doing my Square Root Dance! I am not certain yet how the Square Root Dance goes but I'll be doing one and I invite you to dance with me. Since I know you must be dying for more info. about Square Root Day you can find that here.

Celebrate well, for there won't be another one until 2016!
Happy Day!

**UPDATE**

The Square Root Dance was a success! It turned out something like the Cabbage Patch mixed with the Carlton (from Fresh Prince of Bel Air days)!

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2009!


I rang in the new year in style, in downtown San Francisco. One of my girlfriends from work has a brother with a stylish 3 level loft style apartment a couple of blocks from AT&T park, where the Giants play, and we were lucky enough to be invited to stay the night there. There were about 10 of us total, some work friends and others, and we all had a great time celebrating together. We had a nice dinner at Momo's Restaurant and then went on to the Regency Center where they were having a NYE party. I felt very "city girl" walking around and hailing cabs. It was very fun! The next day we got up and had lunch at The Grove, a quaint little place in SF that had a constant stream of people coming and going. It was very eclectic, with a variety of breakfast, lunch and dinner options and we had to practically stalk customers that were finishing so that we would have a place to sit. After a long day we finally got around and drove back to Sacramento. Now it is time to finish unpacking and get ready to go back to work, Ugh! Didn't make any resolutions this year, just hoping to make the best of whatever comes my way and enjoy every minute of it!

Magical Christmas Sweater

I heart the Christmas season! Especially all the fun parties and decorations. Last night I attended a Magical Christmas Sweater Party that one of my friends hosted and we had a great time! Everyone was to bring out the most festive Christmas sweater and accessories they could come up with. I decided to craft my own sweater at the last minute (about 2hrs before the party) and then ended up winning the Ugliest Sweater Contest! Just goes to show what a little glue and some tinsel can do for you! I topped the entire outfit off with a Christmas lights hair bow that I borrowed from my 5-yr old cousin and some knee high "I Heart Santa" socks! I don't know what everyone was making a big deal about...I wear this outfit all the time! :)


In case you are wondering, you too can have your very own Christmas Tree sweater for the introductory low, low price of ONLY $19.95! Place your order now to guarantee delivery by Christmas Eve! :)

We also had to bring a White Elephant gift to share with everyone. I was under the impression that this meant really awful gag gifts, however, I must have been mistaken because mostly everything was pretty decent. I chose to bring my empty toothpaste container, toothbrush and contacts holder. I felt really bad when all the gifts were being opened and everyone had usable gifts, then came mine! Aah! There also wasn't a whole lot of stealing gifts, people were being really nice. I first stole someone's Santa Claus Mr. Potato Head, then someone traded the iPod speakers they had gotten for the Mr. Potato Head. So in the end I went home with a small set of iPod speakers. Luckily we had some people leave early so the person who received my awful gift was able to trade and get something better. What a relief!

BTW- notice who has FINALLY joined this century and is able to immediately post pictures from a digital camera. That would be ME! I finally broke down and bought a little FujiFilm FinePix digital camera so I can carry it around with me easily and not have to wait for my film to be developed.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Another one has now come and is almost gone and I have so much to be thankful for. For one my Adopt-A-Family (aka cousins mother in law and her friends) so graciously welcomed me into their home for another Thanksgiving spent away from mine and created a wonderful gourmet meal for us all to share. We had a lovely evening with a slightly smaller crowd than I have been around for many other holidays but still very lively. I have been slightly under the weather with a stomach bug and cold so I slept in most of the morning and then finally got my day started. I was able to catch a few minutes of the UT/A&M game however not really being a big football fan I really didn't watch long. I am now curled up next to my roaring radiator and trying to figure out what movie I will watch until I fall asleep. All's well and I am blessed with each day so what more could I ask for! I hope everyone has had a wonderful day filled with love and many memories and of course lots of turkey!

Yosemite Camping Trip

Last weekend a few coworkers and myself decided to brave a trip to Yosemite and go camping. Little did we know that the weather in October gets pretty chilly, like 28 degrees, chilly! AAAH! Then we heard about the rock slides that were occurring in Yosemite Valley and were a little skeptical about going. However, the rock slides were not anywhere near our camp and we thought we could prepare enough to brave the weather, and off we went. The first night we ran out of firewood, and the 30 degrees sleeping bag I had gotten was just not warm enough. The next morning we awoke at 5:30AM to venture off on a 17mile hike to the rock that is known as HalfDome. The hike would take us from about 5600ft. to roughly 8800ft., over the mountains and through the woods. :) We started at about 7:30-7:45AM. It was tough adjusting to the altitude, but after the first mile, which took us about an hour, I was all warmed up. The rest of the journey up was awesome. There were several waterfalls and there were so many people traveling along with you that the pain was bearable. I was truly amazed at how encouraging EVERYONE was along the way. And the higher up we climbed, the more incredible the view got. At one point the group I was with decided to take a break and we just all fell silent as we looked down on where we had been earlier that morning and where we were heading. It was an AWE moment, that I like to think we all had with ourselves and each other. After about 7hours we finally made it to the base of the rock we were to climb. 7hours!! Unfortunately, we decided that we would not have enough daylight to climb all the way up and back down so we stopped there. I must say I am a little disappointed that I/we didn't make it all the way up, which was my personal goal, but I am very glad we all made it! Naturally, as we started the journey back down it started to snow! We arrived back to our cars at approximately 7:30PM, about 12hours from the moment we got on the trail. We headed back to camp, tired and some of us in severe pain, and attempted to get some rest. The weather the second night was predicted to be a mere 18 degrees. Sunday ended our trip, a day early. Overall, the trip was outstanding, however we were all so tired and more importantly cold that we could not picture staying another day. I have included some pictures from our hike and posted more on my Flikr page. Check them out! The one above is me saying "I made it!"


This is the beloved HalfDome! There are cables on the other side that you use to pull yourself up. That was the goal. Maybe next year, when it is not so cold! This has made it to my list of things to do before I die!


One of my coworkers and myself at the top before we started our descent.


A few of us crossing over Nevada Falls, one the two waterfalls. One of the girls kept calling the pine cones, acorns! This drove me crazy! Pine trees DO NOT make acorns, and acorns DO NOT turn into pine cones! I just needed to express that! :)


Just an example of how cold it was, the water streaming down the side of the mountain froze! A few of the people I was with recorded some footage of a black bear, however I was not lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one. It is fairly intimidating all the precautions they suggest you take in order to thwart away the bears. I still wanted to at least see one from a distance. :( There were signs all along the trail for bears, bobcats and mountain lions. Imagine running into a mountain lion, that would be scary.

Updated pictures

Hello all! I have added some pictures from San Francisco and Napa Valley from a few months ago. These are just a sample see more here. Enjoy!




Imagine my surprise when we took a ride on a boat named after little ol' me!!


This was a statue outside of the Mondavi winery I thought was kinda cool. The wineries were just as much about art as they were about the grapes/wine.


I really don't have much of a sweet tooth but there were some fun salt water taffy/candy stores around Monterey and San Fran. and I was drawn to all the varieties they make. I think the people in the store kept looking at me like I was crazy for taking pictures of this candy but I think they are kinda fun!


Of course you can't miss the Golden Gate when visiting San Francisco, so here it is. It was a fairly windy day and there were lots of sail boats out in the bay, which made for some neat pictures.

Concerts in the Park

Well this is me enjoying one of the many free concerts in the park offered around town on Fri. and Sat. nights through the summer. It's not really the hippie fest as this portrays, but it does have that laid back summer vibe. I think it is so neat that there are so many free things like this to do in the summer. The concerts on Sat. rotate between several different parks through out East Sac, and they are all easy to get to even if you want to walk. They are very family friendly so there are lots of children running around playing while the parents hang out. The music varies as well, so far it's been a little bit country and a little bit oldies. Everyone is welcome to bring picnic blankets and coolers with food/drinks, or there are some vendors selling burgers and etc. They basically last from about 5ish to 9ish and then everyone heads home. I haven't been to one on Fri. nights but they are supposed to be just as fun. They are held at a park downtown and seem to be more adult oriented. I think the music is a little more rock concert like as well. Maybe I'll go to that one sometime who knows, I'm ok with the kids running around.

Notice my haircut, too. I went shorter this time and I love it! Super easy and a little bit funky too!

Side note: I'll be coming home in a week! Can't wait to see everyone that I can!